Mikoto's Legacy
by pitaC89
Summary: As his Sword of Damocles continues to deteriorate Mikoto thinks on what he wants to leave behind besides a giant crater. To this end he asks his loyal vanguard to perform one last service for him.
1. Chapter 1

Mikoto's Legacy

Summary: Genderswap. As his Sword of Damocles continues to deteriorate Mikoto thinks on what he wants to leave behind besides a giant crater. To this end he asks his loyal vanguard to perform one last service for him.

The Kagutsu Crater Incident. The disaster that had left a scar on the collective consciousness, with the sheer destructive power of a Sword of Damocles falling, annihilating everything within miles of his predecessor, and killing hundreds of thousands.

He knew exactly how far gone he was. He'd seen his Sword of Damocles and he'd felt his powers begin to break free of his control. If the search for the Colorless King didn't get him killed the old fashioned way that would be his fate. The Red King would once again bear the responsibility of so much destruction.

Mikoto stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray that was sitting on the bar by his elbow. His future could be measured in months if he was lucky, but more likely he had mere weeks before his limits were reached. He only hoped that his clansmen were at a safe distance when it came crashing down. Someone needed to be left to take care of Anna.

"Mr. Mikoto?"

Yata had sat down on the stool next to him sometime in the last hour. This was the first she'd spoken since he'd become lost in his doubts four cigarettes ago. For an instant he can see the line of blood left on her cheek by Tatara's last attempt comfort her as his life faded. Then the image is gone and he's left with his vanguard's worried but clean face.

Tatara's death had taken its toll on all of Homra. He forgot that sometimes. Then little things would remind him, like the look in Anna's eyes or Yata's burning silences. For a time, grief had made Yata physically ill, making Chitose wonder aloud whether she was pregnant and for a brief moment he had hope that maybe Yata and Tatara's relationship went beyond playful ribbing and shared laughter. That maybe Tatara hadn't been lost completely. But with a few simple words—No, Mr. Mikoto, Mr. Totsuka and I were only friends— Yata had crushed that foolish hope.

A child… Would his wishes be enough to hold his clansmen together when he was gone? Would they stay for Anna? Kusanagi would provide for her, but Homra was her family and she would need them all. Anna had lost one family already, and then Tatara who he'd soon be following. There were also those like Eric, for whom Homra was all they had. And Yata who, while it could be argued that she had Fushimi outside of Homra, was better off with her fellow clansmen.

His clansmen needed one another. But would they stay united without him? If they had something of him to hold on to—like he wished they had of Tatara— that could hold at least the core members of Homra together. And if the core remained, the others would have a place to go should they need it.

Mikoto reached out and took Yata's hand. She blushed, but didn't pull away.

Yata's loyalty was unquestionable, not only to him but to her fellow clansmen as well. She'd stayed even after Fushimi's defection, when others had wondered if she would follow her oldest friend into the arms of Scepter 4. He appreciated her loyalty enough to track down Fushimi and warn him that Yata was off limits after the man had continued to seek her out to torment her after his betrayal. When that hadn't worked he'd sucked it up and gone through Munakata to keep Fushimi away long enough for Yata to get back on her feet.

She would do anything he asked of her. Usually, out of respect for the power she'd given him over her, he asked nothing more of her than what he expected from any of his clansmen. But with time running short, she would be the best choice for what he had in mind.

He stood pulling Yata to her feet as well.

Kusanagi stared at them over the bar, his gaze holding a warning that Mikoto ignored. The rest of his clansmen were caught up in some game in the corner, and paid no attention to them as they headed for the stairs. Almost past the threshold he felt eyes on him and knew Anna had shifted her attention from her near constant search for the Colorless King to him. He would speak with her later. There were things she would need to know, plans she needed to be made aware of.

An hour later found Mikoto lying awake in his bed, cigarette hanging from his lips. Yata lay sound asleep beside him.

As he'd thought, Yata hadn't refused him. And she'd agreed to keep him company in his rooms for as long as he needed it. He intended to have her come back again tomorrow night. He couldn't stake his plans on one encounter. Fate was never that kind.

Mikoto tapped his cigarette on the lip of the ashtray on his bedside table. Beside him Yata sneezed. She had never tolerated cigarette smoke well, and though she liked to sit close to him whenever they were both in the bar, he got the sense that that she wasn't fond of the scent that lingered on his clothes. Fair enough, Tatara hadn't liked the smell either.

Yata was a good choice, not merely because she was the only real option. Her fiercely protective nature was one of her more admired traits among his clansmen. Her strength was evident simply by her survival in his world, and by her refusal to be broken by the betrayal of those closest to her. Yata's interactions with Anna showed some nurturing instinct, even if their relationship didn't reach the level of mother and daughter, or even of sisters.

Yes, Mikoto was satisfied with his choice.

Yata stood with the rest of her helpless clansmen as their King's Sword began to fall. They were too close, when the Sword hit, they would die along with their king.

Yata felt a pang in her chest. Mr. Mikoto hadn't wanted this to be how it ended. Hadn't wanted Anna to be anywhere near him if the Sword of Damocles came crashing down. Her King's last few seconds wouldn't be the peaceful, almost joyful anticipation of his reunion with Mr. Totsuka that she was sure Mr. Mikoto would have wanted them to be. Tears began to trickle down Yata's cheek.

Then, miraculously, the Sword disintegrated just before impact.

And Anna began to scream.

"You could have stopped this. It didn't have to be this way," Munakata said, sword buried deep in Mikoto's chest.

Mikoto smiled. "Yes it did."

AN:Okay, just off the bat, no one in this story is going to be perfect. They have objectives and their methods for achieving those objectives aren't always going to be nice.

So yeah Yata is a pretty passive character in this chapter. I feel confident in heading off all cries of misogyny because this trait is carried over from canon Yata, at least where Mikoto's concerned. This is however mostly Yata's story, and Girl!Yata's not going to be passive for long.


	2. Wake

Mikoto's Legacy

Summary: Genderswap. As his Sword of Damocles continues to deteriorate Mikoto thinks on what he wants to leave behind besides a giant crater. To this end he asks his loyal vanguard to perform one last service for him.

The barroom was full well past capacity with loud clansmen, but today Kusanagi didn't mind. They all had a right to be here tonight, and Mikoto deserved to be sent off in style.

Munakata had finally authorized the return of Mikoto's body three days before. It had only taken Kusanagi a few hours to arrange for their king's funeral, and the cremation had been completed earlier in the day. Tonight, they celebrated their king's life.

Kamamoto was entertaining a group in the corner with a fictitious story about how he saved Mikoto's life during some encounter with the Blues. Yata was helping herself to a third helping of whatever was on whichever tap she came to first. Eric and Kousuke were playing cards with Bandou, and Anna was watching them all through one of her marbles.

Kusanagi had been keeping a close eye on Anna all evening. She seemed to be doing better now than she had been while Scepter 4 was still holding on to Mikoto's body, but that wasn't saying much. For all intents and purposes Mikoto had been her father, and Anna had already lost one of those before. Tomorrow he would need to see to the instructions for her care that Mikoto had left. Mikoto hadn't made a will, since all he really had to his name was a single bank account and Anna, but Kusanagi knew that Mikoto had gone and had something notarized a few weeks before his death.

A flash of movement brought his attention back to Anna. The girl was halfway across the barroom before he had time to wonder what she was up to. She ducked behind the bar, pulling one of the stools behind her. Still curious to what exactly the girl was up to, Kusanagi didn't stop her as she climbed up on the stool and grabbed a beer mug off the shelf. Anna set it on the counter, and then carefully climbed down from the stool. Once her feet were firmly back on the floor, Anna took the mug in her hands and held it out to Kusanagi.

"Some of that please," she asked, nodding toward the tap.

Kusanagi was still somewhat lost as to what Anna was thinking, shook his head. "You're not old enough for that, Anna."

"Neither is Yata, and she's already had three glasses full."

Ah, so that's where this was going.

"Yata's a big girl, Anna," Kusanagi replied. "She knows her limits."

Yata, with her third glass sitting empty in front of her, huffed. "I'm done growing Anna, you're not. Beer isn't good for growing girls."

Anna shook her head. "If Yata can have three glasses, why can't I have one? Yata's not that much older."

"Yata's switching to tea now anyway." Kamamoto plucked Yata's glass off the bar, and replaced it with his own glass of tea.

"Hey, give that back!"

"Shut up and drink your tea, Chihuahua," Eric said. Other members of Homra joined in with similar sentiments.

"Three glasses really is enough for someone your size," Kamamoto insisted. "And we all need to set a good example for Anna."

Around the bar glasses and bottles vanished from sight among murmurs of discontent. Chitose downed what was left of his in one swallow before upending his glass on the table. Eric pushed his cup to the side and went back to studying his hand of cards, while Kousuke reluctantly handed his glass over as Kamamoto began to make his way around the room collecting the cups.

Once the last glass was emptied down the sink, Anna handed her mug over with no fuss.

Yata hated how Kamamoto took his tea. It was too milky and not sweet at all.

Though she wouldn't admit it, her head was fuzzy from the beer. Kamamoto was right that she didn't have the size or bulk to be a heavy drinker, even the weak beer Mr. Kusanagi kept on tap was too much.

The alcohol wouldn't help anyway. Mr. Mikoto had avenged Mr. Totsuka, and hadn't sacrificed a single one of his clansmen in the process. It was how Mr. Mikoto had wanted things to be. That didn't change the fact that he was gone, and getting drunk wouldn't help her forget it.

Yata should be thankful Kamamoto was forcing her to switch over to tea. The others were already giving her strange looks because she had broken down and sobbed after Mr. Mikoto's sword vanished. She didn't need to get drunk and make a further fool of herself.

She took another sip of tea, and grimaced at the taste. There was no pleasant numbness to go with the fuzzy feeling. Just that ever present weight that had settled in her chest when she threw open that door and saw Mr. Totsuka lying in a pool of blood. She'd only just stopped getting sick every time she remembered the feel of Mr. Totsuka's blood on her face, how it had soaked through her shirt and coated her chest with a disgusting layer of coppery liquid.

Yata'd realized the first night Mr. Mikoto asked her to join him upstairs, just how deeply losing Mr. Totsuka had cut their King. That he intended to die once the Colorless King was taken care of. That was why she couldn't deny his request. The gossiping men she called her fellow clansmen had always debated whether she and Saru were more than just roommates, and even Mr. Mikoto had thought she was sleeping with Mr. Totsuka. But no, she didn't lose her virginity until Mr. Mikoto. How could she? Saru would never touch her, and anyone who showed an interest before she joined Homra had quickly been introduced to Saru's knife fetish. And after Homra… well, a girl who could hold fire in her hands made men nervous.

The last of Kamamoto's tea went down with a swallow and a grimace. "Can I get something that doesn't taste godawful?"

"Like the beer was so great," Eric muttered.

"That beer was imported from Germany," Kusanagi said.

"It tasted like Windex."

Yata couldn't argue with that. Judging by the murmurs of agreement, nobody else could either. A glass of water appeared in front of her, and she figured that was the only thing Kusanagi would be willing to serve her for the rest of the night.

Looking around, Yata noted that Anna had disappeared. It was after midnight, so Anna was probably off getting ready for bed. Mentally, Yata wished her sweet dreams, but doubted any of them would sleep well for awhile. Mr. Mikoto might be at peace, but the rest of them weren't.

Deciding it was probably time to head out herself, Yata pushed herself off the barstool and tried to stand. After a wobbly start, she got her legs firmly under her. She nodded to Kamamoto as she made her way to the door.

"Wait!"

Yata froze and every head in the turned toward stairs.

"Who…?"

There was a little boy standing there with a duffle bag at least as large as the child over his shoulder. But his voice, Yata could have sworn…

"Anna?" Kusanagi sounded lost, but Yata was just as confused, so yeah. "What are you wearing?"

A red hoodie and shorts three sizes too large if Yata had to guess. Actually, she was pretty sure Anna was wearing a pair of shoes that Yata had forgotten at the bar last week too. She resembled any number of boys that frequented Yata's apartment complex,

"Anna," Bandou spoke up, "just because Yata's technically a girl, doesn't mean she should be your role model."

"Hey, what's wrong with the way I dress?!"

Nobody dignified that with a response, and if Yata wasn't so unsteady on her feet she would probably be punching a few people.

"I was wondering about the bag myself," Kamamoto said. "Are you planning a trip Anna?"

Anna shook her head. "I'm going with Yata."

Yata felt the need to sit down. So she pushed Chitose out of his chair and took it for herself. "Umm, what?"

Anna skipped down the last few steps and was at Yata's side before she answered. "Mikoto said if anything happened to him, I was going to live with you."

"Does that strike anyone else as questionable judgement on our King's part?" Chitose asked, still sprawled on the floor.

"Maybe he thought Yata's motherly instincts would make her the best candidate for taking care of Anna," Kamamoto said.

"Yata? She's only a girl because she has the parts, not because she actually is one," Bandou insisted.

Flame sprang to life in Yata's clenched fist. "What?!"

"Not in my bar!" Kusanagi yelled. "And Anna isn't going anywhere tonight, especially that cesspit Yata lives in."

"It's not a cesspit," Yata muttered.

"Last time I was in that neighborhood I saw five prostitutes and two drug dealers," Kusanagi said.

"Kaho's girls are good people, and I chased those dealers off ages ago," Yata argued.

A moment of silence followed.

"You know your local Madame by name?" Chitose asked.

"She's my neighbor and some of the local guys try to give her trouble. I make sure they leave her alone."

"So you moonlight as a bouncer for a whorehouse?"

"Not the point," Kusanagi interrupted. "Anna's not going anywhere tonight. Mikoto left some documents in the safe that I'm going to look over tomorrow. We'll go from there.

"Anna, take that bag back upstairs. I'll be up in a minute to help make up the bed in the blue room. Yata, you'll be staying the night."

"What?"

"Anna seems to think Mikoto wanted you to act as her guardian. If nothing else, you can stay the night for her sake."

"But the blue room?" Mikoto's room.

"It's right next to Anna's."

And where she'd slept most nights since Mr. Totsuka died. Kusanagi didn't say that part out loud, but she knew he knew.

Kusanagi sighed. "For tonight. If you need to stay longer we can shuffle rooms."

"Stay longer?"

"I meant what I said. Anna isn't going anywhere near your neighborhood. If Mikoto did leave you custody of his daughter, _our princess_, you'll be finding new accommodations in a better part of town."

* * *

After Yata and Anna disappeared upstairs for the night, the atmosphere in the bar turned speculative. Many of the more periphery members of Homra had left for the night, leaving only the regulars behind.

"So, Yata and Mikoto, huh?" Chitose asked.

"Looks like," Kousuke agreed.

"They were sleeping together, yeah. But I didn't think it was serious," Souhei said.

Kamamoto remained silent, glaring at his drink.

"They weren't serious, not on Mikoto's part," Kusanagi agreed. "And I doubt Yata considered it a relationship either. Despite her appearance, she's a grown woman. She knows what she's doing …most of the time."

"If she didn't mean anything to him, why did he leave her Anna?" Kamamoto asked. "Yata is my friend, my sister. If he took advantage of her like that—"

"Were you not listening to me? Yata's not some naive innocent—"

"How do you know that?!" Kamamoto stood, his chair screeching as it was pushed back. "Yata worshiped Mikoto. How could she possibly tell him no?"

"Give her some credit. She's loyal to a fault but if he'd tried to force her to do anything she didn't want, she'd have brought the building down on his head."

Kamamoto didn't look convinced. "Still, she's our sister. How could Mikoto even ask her that?"

Kusanagi sighed. "I don't know why Mikoto risked so much just for a few weeks with Yata. Especially when he was the one who warned everyone off after things ended so badly between her and Fushimi."

"I thought it was because he had a thing for her," Chitose said.

Kusanagi shook his head. "You saw how bad things got after Fushimi left. Yata was picking fights with anyone just for the hell of it. Mikoto had to bail her out of jail twice in under a month. Then she ended up in the hospital, those two Scepter 4 guys ended up with third degree burns, and Tatara and I had to go grovel to Munakata to get the charges dropped. After that we couldn't let Yata go anywhere without Kamamoto, and Mikoto decided Yata was off limits to everybody."

"Yata really burned the Scepter 4 guys that bad?" Kousuke asked.

"No," Kamamoto answered. "Mikoto did that. He tracked them down after we got Yata back from the hospital. We've all seen what kind of damage Yata can take. You don't put her in the emergency room by accident."

"Luckily Munakata agreed, which is why our King wasn't tossed in a cage at Scepter 4 and left to rot," Kusanagi said. "Anyway, we can go round and round about what Mikoto was thinking in those last few weeks, and still not have a clue. For now, we need to focus on taking care of Anna."

"And Yata?" Kamamoto asked.

"Yata's one of us. If she's struggling, we'll be there for her." Kusanagi paused. "We'll need to stick together."

Eric frowned. "Why wouldn't we?"

Kusanagi shook his head. "Just a thought. Anyway, I'm sure you're all tired, so let's finish this in the morning. You can stay here for the night if you want."

"Do we get our own rooms?" Bandou asked.

"You can fight over the couches. If I catch anyone sleeping on my bar, they'll be scrubbing floors for the next three months."

Author's Note:

So, from what I've read clansmen keep their powers even after their King dies. I'm assuming the powers Kuroh was showing off in the anime were the result of his being the previous Colorless King's clansman, not some unexplained superpower he just happened to have.

Some of these guys are unreliable narrators. Mikoto's motivations aren't clear to any of them at this point.


	3. Building

Mikoto's Legacy

Summary: Genderswap. As his Sword of Damocles continues to deteriorate Mikoto thinks on what he wants to leave behind besides a giant crater. To this end he asks his loyal vanguard to perform one last service for him.

When Kusanagi sat down to read what amounted to Mikoto's last will and testament, he'd been pretty sure what it would say. Mikoto wouldn't lie to Anna, but Kusanagi couldn't believe he would leave Homra's volatile and immature vanguard with sole custody of their princess. Kusanagi guessed that there would be some sort of joint custody between himself and Yata. Give Anna the traditional household with a mother and father—and if Kusanagi ever had to imagine Yata as his wife again he would gouge his own eyes out with a corkscrew, might as well save Fushimi the trouble— and a sense of stability.

What Kusanagi found, however, was something different. Mikoto had left Yata everything. He'd left her Anna, a bank account with all of 40,000 yen in it—more than Kusanagi thought Mikoto had but still what was Yata going to do, buy groceries for a couple weeks?—, and his rooms above Homra—which were Kusanagi's to begin with thank you very much, just because he let Mikoto use them rent free didn't give him the right to will them away.

Kusanagi sighed. He'd been planning on having Yata stay at the bar for awhile anyway. He didn't want to give special treatment to anyone, they were all grieving Mikoto, but Yata had a history of not taking loss well. He didn't want a repeat of what happened after Fushimi left. Especially since with Mikoto gone, he'd be the one bailing her out of jail or putting the fear of Homra into whoever thought she would make a nice punching bag after she'd worn herself down past being able to fight anyone off.

Still, last night Yata had looked genuinely terrified at the prospect of being responsible for Anna. Yata was only nineteen and utterly terrified of committing to something other than Homra. And her idea of age appropriate entertainment was taking Anna to the arcade to play first person shooters while screaming expletives at the enemy avatars on screen.

Oh god, Yata was going to be Anna's new role model. What was Mikoto thinking?

His inner turmoil was interrupted by the clunk of sneakers on the stairs. Kusanagi drew a fortifying breath, expecting Yata to finally make an appearance. Instead, Anna was tromping down the stairs in a horrible imitation of Yata's gait.

Apparently Yata had already had too much influence on Anna.

"Anna, why are you wearing those clothes?"

Anna blinked up at him from under the brim of a baseball cap he was sure belonged to Shouhei. "They're comfy."

"So, your dresses aren't comfortable?"

"They're nice but I think I like these better right now."

"Right now?" Oh. Mikoto had bought her those dresses, back when she first came to stay with him. He'd spoiled her, buying her anything she'd wanted, including custom made dresses to replace those godawful blue ones she'd worn when she first came to Homra.

"Besides, Yata always dresses like this."

"Yata's been known to burn her clothes right off her back, nice clothes would be a waste," Kusanagi pointed out. And hadn't that been a day? Chitose realized that Yata was a girl— previously mistaking her for a twelve year old boy—, Fushimi had threatened to cut out everyone's eyes if they didn't stop staring at his Misaki that instant, and Yata—at that point clad only in Kamamoto's jacket—broke Chitose's nose after he made a pass at her while trying to get another look at her breasts. To date, Yata remained the only member of Homra to burn through an entire set of clothes while they were still on her body. Chitose had burnt his shirt off once, but considering he got a date out of it Kusanagi suspected it was intentional.

"And Yata's clothes are more practical."

"Practical how?" Kusanagi didn't like where this was going. Best case was Anna was about to announce she wanted to take up skateboarding everywhere and come home every day with new and interesting scars. Worst case...

"When she has to fight," Anna said, climbing on to one of the stool with some difficulty. Another glance at her shoes told Kusanagi they were at least a size too big.

"You want to learn how to fight?" Worst case scenario, it was always the worst case scenario.

Anna nodded. "Mikoto showed me how to throw a punch without breaking my thumb but he didn't have time to teach me anything else."

Damnit Mikoto. "And why did Mikoto think you needed to learn how to fight?"

"So I can protect Yata."

Oh good god. "Don't… say that in front of Yata, okay?"

"Okay."

"Now, how about some breakfast?"

* * *

There was already a group gathered at the bar when Yata made her way down. It looked like no one had bothered to go home last night after Mikoto's sendoff party.

"The sleeping beast finally awakes," Chitose greeted.

"I think you're mixing up your fairytales." Kamamoto wasn't wearing his sunglasses, and his eyes were bloodshot, though Yata knew he hadn't touched a drop of alcohol last night. She guessed he just hadn't slept well.

"She's not exactly a beauty though."

"The beast turns into a handsome prince at the end," Anna, wearing one of Yata's missing shirts, spoke up.

"Well she's not one of those either."

"Is there any breakfast left, or can I throw Chitose out the window now?" Yata asked.

"That window is worth more than you are," said Kusanagi.

"I saved you some food, Yata," Anna offered up a plate stack high with a variety of Yata's favorites.

"Good girl," Yata muttered, taking the plate and patting Anna on the head. "Is that Shouhei's hat?"

Shouhei gave a little moan in the corner, clutching his bare head. Huh.

"Since Yata's here now, I guess you all want to know what Mikoto's will said." Kusanagi asked.

"Not particularly," Yata said.

"Too bad. You now have sole custody of Anna."

And suddenly Yata didn't feel liked eating anymore. "What?"

"Mikoto named you as Anna's sole guardian, left you his rooms and maybe enough money to buy her some new clothes."

Anna blinked up at him while her hands continued to fiddle with the belt that was the only thing keeping her shorts firmly at waist level. "What's wrong with these clothes?"

"I hope you have a job, because despite her size, Anna does eat quite a bit."

Yata stared. Sole custody? Job? Clothes and food? "What?"

"A job, Yata. Where you perform a service and receive monetary compensation in return. Shut up, Chitose."

Chitose closed his mouth.

"Miss Kaho pays me a little bit to keep an ear open when I'm at home," Yata said. "Shut up, Chitose"

"I wasn't going to say anything."

Kusanagi sighed. "I'd rather you not be working in a brothel in any capacity. I'd offer to let you wait tables here, but business is always slow in the winter and you spend more time chasing off Kamamoto's fangirls in the summer than you do actual work."

"The café on 8th is hiring," Kousuke offered.

"So is the Naughty Neko," said Chitose.

"Yata's not going to work at a strip club," Kusanagi sighed.

"I'm not a stripper!" Yata growled.

"Seriously, you could do that thing where you set your clothes on fire. It's really a turn on," Chitose continued. A disbelieving silence followed. "What?"

Kusanagi dropped his head in his hands. "Please tell me you haven't actually been fantasizing about that."

"What, I said she wasn't a beauty, not that she wasn't sexy."

"Dewa," Kusanagi said.

"I'll shove this teacup down your throat if you don't shut up, Chitose," Dewa threatened dutifully.

"The delivery place a few blocks over is offering good hourly wages with no experience required," said Eric. "If Yata can find a bike and make a good impression on the manager, she shouldn't have a problem getting the job."

Kusanagi nodded. "At least someone has something useful to contribute. Yata, I have a bike in storage. You can go over this afternoon and talk to the manager."

"Don't forget the helmet," Anna said.

"Do I get any say in this?" Yata asked.

"No."

* * *

A few hours later Yata had a job delivering packages four days a week. By the time she made it back to the bar most of her things had been moved into her new room at Homra thanks to the guys. After yelling at Kusanagi for awhile she hauled Kamamoto—the only one of her clansmen she trusted around Miss Kaho—back to her apartment and made him take over her lease so someone was there to look out for Miss Kaho and her girls, and also to keep those dealers from coming back.

As a tacit apology for helping Kusanagi uproot her entire life while she was out, Kamamoto didn't complain too much about having to move himself. Or maybe he was just happy his girlfriend/stalker would have to walk all the way across town if she wanted to bring him lunch now. Hm…

"You're buying me lunch," Yata decided, after she'd finished introducing Kamamoto to Miss Kaho.

"Why?"

"Because I'm hungry. And broke. And I still have to get Anna new clothes so she'll stop stealing everyone else's."

Kamamoto sighed. "What do you want?"

* * *

"Did you really need three burgers?" Kamamoto asked.

Probably not. Yata was only halfway through her second burger and already full. Usually she could eat more. Maybe her appetite was just gone. It had disappeared for awhile after Mr. Totsuka died. Then again, that was mostly because she could still feel his blood soaking into her skin and remember the way his body went cold in her arms. The effect the memory had on her had lessened over time, and her appetite had since returned.

"Here," she said, handing over her last burger and her untouched fries.

Kamamoto took them warily. "Are you alright?"

"Fine. Still full from breakfast I guess," Yata replied with a shrug. Anyone else would have believed her, but Kamamoto knew her too well. He also knew her well enough not to push it.

While Kamamoto dug into her leftovers, Yata leaned back in her seat and stared out the window. Out of habit she did a cursory search of the crowd for the white hair of Mr. Totsuka's murderer before reminding herself that one way or another, the Colorless King was dead. The crowds passing by held no familiar faces. She saw a few figures in Scepter 4 blue, but thankfully, if Saru was around, he was staying out sight.

"Goddamn Homra."

Yata was on her feet before she even bothered to see who had spoken. Kamamoto's hand caught her arm in a deathgrip before she could turn to face whatever bastard she was about to layout. She turned anyway, dragging him out of his chair.

A pair of Scepter 4 agents were seated a few tables over. She didn't recognize either of them and immediately classified them as peons, not worthy of the vanguard of Homra's notice outside a token bat to the head in the midst of battle. If she was going to bother learning faces, much less names, they needed to present a credible threat, like Saru and, occasionally, Awashima.

They seemed to agree with her assessment, judging by the way their faces paled when they got a good look at her face.

"Yatagarasu," one of them whimpered.

"What did you say about Homra?" Yata growled.

Kamamoto put himself between her and her intended targets, making a show of putting a calming hand on her shoulder. He was good about not startling her after that time he'd grabbed a hold of her from behind, attempting to hold her back from laying into a group of idiot who had been hassling her. She'd ended up using him as a club in place of her favorite bat. "Yata, Anna's expecting us for dinner, remember?"

Anna was doing no such thing and nobody at the bar ate dinner before sundown during the winter months anyway. So Anna wouldn't—Anna. Crap. If Scepter 4 put a warrant out on her she couldn't just disappear until Kusanagi got it all sorted out with his coldhearted woman. If she ran off and left Anna, odds were that Kusanagi would help Scepter 4 find her _and_ see to it that they kept her locked up.

Yata reined in her aura, which had been thrumming just beneath her skin. She could see the glow of her eyes reflected in Kamamoto's sunglasses. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and when she opened them again they had faded back to their usual color. "Let's go. The arcade down the street has a first person shooter that I want to try."

Yata pushed past him and shot one last glare at the Scepter 4 stooges as she headed for the door, letting the red fill her eyes again for an instant. She heard Kamamoto advise the idiots not to mention that they'd even seen them, saying something about Saru that she didn't even bother listening to.

Once she was clear of the door she found a wall to lean against, noticing that she was short of breath. A few minutes later Kamamoto joined her.

"You're pale," he said.

"It's winter," Yata grumbled. They were all losing their summer tans.

"Are you sure you feel okay?"

"I'm just tired. None of us got that much sleep last night." That's probably why she was out breath. No sleep and then getting so ticked off. It made sense.

Kamamoto nodded. "We should head back to the bar. I'm sure they're wondering what's taking us so long."

Not seeing any reason to argue, she followed along.


End file.
